Athlete/Actor/Surgeon
Kinesthetic learners are no less likely to be successful in school than any other type of learners. However, they can sometimes feel like a fish-out-of-water compared to their more auditory or logical peers. To foster both learning and self esteem, give some of these activities a try:
- To practice math facts, play a version of the game Slap!: Place number cards or equation cards on the floor and give your child a fly swatter. Call out the answer (and have your child find the equation), or call out the equation (and have your child find the answer). Time your child and see how fast she can slap the correct card with the swatter. You can also play this game with vocabulary words, fractions, decimals, etc.
- Bubble wrap fun: What about writing times tables answers on the bubbles of bubble wrap in Sharpie(R)? Call out the equation and let your child have at it!
- Use engaging prompts that tap into your child’s physical talents. For example, ask her if they could have one superpower, what would it be? Then have them write a poem, story, or descriptive paragraph about their power. Or create story dice (dice with clip art pictures glued to each side). Have your child roll a story.
- Excite their motivation to explore science with hands-on science experiments. For example, explore density, have her discover how an egg sinks in plain water but floats in salt water.
- Make math move: Develop hand gestures or body movements to help them remember vocabulary, formulas, etc. You can also help your child “alert” if you let her move while learning. For example, have her play catch while reviewing facts or have them jump rope while memorizing formulas. What about creating a hopscotch board with math facts instead of numbers? As your child hops across, she says the answer to the equation.
- Talk to the teacher about adapting assignments to incorporate projects your child can build or make to demonstrate learning, or to be a component of a written report. For example, she can build models of natural land formations, or use hulahoops and index cards to create more kinesthetic Venn diagrams.
- For some fun online resources for Athlete/Actor/Surgeon children, check out some of these:
- If you have a surgeon in the making, give these virtual surgeries and dissections a try: http://toadhaven.com/Toadhaven/Virtual_Surgery_and_Dissection.html
- Create comics with super-action characters! Super Action Comic Maker
- Play virtual baseball with this game: http://www.funbrain.com/math/index.html
- Dissect a virtual owl pellet: http://www.kidwings.com/owlpellets/flash/v4/index.htm
- Go deeper with learning about theme and character while still satisfying your Athlete/Actor/Surgeon’s learning profile with these character trading cards: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards/
- Have your child practice giving oral reports where they can stand and move more than written reports. A fun way to combine the best of both is with this online cue prompter: http://www.cueprompter.com/.
- Learn more about the science of baseball: http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/index.html
